Life And Times Of Kishiko Ishikawa
by Kishiko
Summary: Kishiko Ishikawa was the average school loser. With no friends and no family, nothing happened around her. That is, until one single event changes her life... forever. OC,Bad summary, hopefully good story Rated T for language.
1. Prolouge

_We may look at the star filled sky,_

_And think of God._

_We may look at the bright blue sky,_

_And think of our departed loved ones._

_But, whenever we look at the sky,_

_The fear of death strikes us,_

_As we know that eventually, death will come to us all._

_And if we have antoned for our sins, we may be sent up to the heavenly clouds,_

_So that our next generations may look up and think of us._

_Because nobody looks down to the ground, and thinks of God._

_Nobody looks down to the dirt and dust below, and thinks of our departed loved ones._

_The ground is filled with hatred, but the sky is filled with a compassion we cannot understand._

_Thus, our atoning begins._

_~Zen Sea - Friend of Authour  
_


	2. Seperation

**The Life Of Kishiko Ishikawa**

Hey, my name is Kishiko Ishikawa. School Loser of the year. Literally. Check the yearbook, it's there, three years running. Not really sure what I ever did to people, but that's people for you. I trudged down the hall, towards my locker. Balls of paper flew at my head, but I didn't flinch. It was expectant now. Suddenly, I saw a cricket ball flying in my direction. I swung round, and brought my leg up to deflect the ball. The side of my foot came in contact with the ball and it shot off in the other direction. I brought my leg down, just as shocked as the people around me.

"What the hell was that, freak girl?" I craned my neck, to make eye contact with the 'Queen Bee' Ayumi Mie. I shrugged,

"I dunno, and why the hell are you talking to me?" I muttered, turning back round to walk a few more steps to my locker, swiftly entering the combination. The date my father died. Ayumi shrieked,

"Oh my God, freak girl spoke to me! Oh no, I can smell her breath!" she cackled, along with her 'minions'. I furrowed my eyebrows. Even though I was used to it, it still always bugged me. I shoved my books inside my locker and grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulder. I slammed my locker shut, ignoring comments from people and walked out of the school. I knew eyes were on me, but I didn't know that one person had their eyes on me for a different reason. I sighed as my eyes scanned the street, looking at the different people. Some were humans, others were spirits. Yeah, I can see spirits. Ever since I was like, 3 or something. I sort of remember seeing my first spirit. It was only a small child. I saw it in an alleyway, crying its eyes out. That was the day before Dad had died.

~*FLASHBACK*~

I was clung to my Dad's back like a monkey, as he lightly stepped down the street. I yawned loudly, resting my head on Dad's, looking at the buildings. As we approached an alleyway, I heard somebody shrieking and crying. I tapped my Dad,

"Daddy, what's that noise?" I questioned. My Dad craned his neck, puzzled,

"The only the noises around here, love, are the cars that are passing through on the road," he spoke in a gentle voice that soothed me, as I sighed. As we approached the alleyway, I peered into it. Leaning against the wall, a small girl with medium black hair, her head buried into her knees, sobbing. I sniffled slightly,

"Daddy, why is that girl all alone crying?" when I said it, the little girl had looked up, to see my finger pointing in her direction, but when my Dad had followed my finger, his expression was even more puzzled,

"Honey, there's nobody there. What's wrong with you today?" he asked. I sighed as I closed my eyes,

"Sorry, Daddy...."

~*END FLASHBACK*~

I stared at my feet as I walked, deciding to cut through the park. I winced when I bumped against somebody,

"Hey, watch where you're... you're..." I backed up, stumbling over my own feet slightly as I stared up at the big monster, its face encased in a white mask, hiding its identity. Its big claws dug into the ground, its breath lingering on my face. I began to turn and run away, but it grabbed me and slowly brought his monsterous claw to his mouth. I tried to scream, but my throat felt dry, and my stomach dropped.

Suddenly, a heat swelled up inside me, and I was separated from my body.

TBC.

--

Oh dear! What's happened to herrrrr?? X]]

Sorry it's not that good, I'm not a very talented writer :P


	3. The Introduction

**Chapter 2 – The Introduction**

I fell from its clutches, but as I looked up, my body was falling to the ground, strangely still in one piece. I looked back up to see the thing dissolving into the air. My eyes widened as I focused back on the ground to see my classmate, Ichigo Kurosaki, putting a sword as long as his body away. I stared in shock as he turned round to set his gaze on me, his eyes widening. As he approached me, his outfitting became clearer. He wore a black shihakusho tied with a white sash, a sword with something that looked like a bandage tied around it. He came up to me, and held out a hand, as I lightly took it, he spoke in a confused tone,

"You're a Shinigami, too?" he questioned. My eyes widened as I looked down at my attire, to find it matched his. I looked around my body to find a long sword attached to my back with black ribbon. As I craned my neck to take a closer look, I saw that the top of the sword was shaped into a star, and just below it, a black ribbon was tied around it, flowing in the breeze. I looked back at him, then to my body, which was still lying on the floor,

"I-I dunno... am I?" things were running round in my head. I had no idea what was going on. Was I dead? I didn't know. I decided to put my thoughts into words,

"A....Are we dead?" I asked. Ichigo shook his head,

"No, we're not. By the way, your name's Kishiko, right? From my class?" I nodded,

"Thought so. Anyway, let's get back into our bodies, and we can talk." I looked at my body, and back at him,

"Umm... how do I do that?" I asked, totally confused. He held up a finger, muttered 'one second' and cupped his hands around his mouth,

"Hey, Kon! Get over here!!" he yelled. Surprisingly, nobody turned around to look at him. After a few seconds, somebody who looked exactly like Ichigo approached. Ichigo turned back to me,

"You just fuse yourself back with your body, or basically just step back into it, like this." He turned back around and went behind 'Kon', fitting the shape of his body, and stepped into it. A few seconds later, he was himself again, as he coughed up a small green pill. I grimaced,

"Will I do that?" I asked. Ichigo shook his head,

"No, that's just Kon. Just do what I did, and you'll do fine," he spoke. I nodded, and walked towards my body. I picked it up and mimicked its shape. Before I knew it, I was standing back up, back in my school uniform, stretching my stiff joints. I picked up my bag and the items that had fallen out of it. Ichigo bent down to help me, and handed me the items. I thanked him as he nodded,

"Names, Ichigo Kurosaki, I s'pose you already know, but may as well." I smiled at him,

"Kishiko Ishikawa. I s'pose you already know. I've been school loser of the year, three years running." I laughed as we started walking out of the park. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow,

"Well, that's what the yearbook says. I don't think you're a loser," he started, "Anybody with spiritual pressure that enormous and the strength to survive what just happens, there's no way you can be a loser!" he smiled slightly, and I smiled back,

"Thanks. So, I guess this means we're sort of... friends, now?" I asked. Ichigo's smile grew,

"Yeah, well, since we're both Shinigami, we wouldn't be able to escape each other either way. So, you have no idea how you became a Shinigami?" I shook my head,

"No, I've been able to see spirits for a long time, but this is the first time something like this has happened to me, like with seeing that thing and becoming a Shinigami and all." Ichigo made an 'mm-hmm' sound as we continued walking. After a few minutes of walking in a silence that was not awkward, but peaceful, we came to the corner of my street,

"Well, this is my stop," I spoke in tone that held a tint of sadness. Ichigo nodded and looked down the road,

"So, do you live with your dad?" I shook my head,

"Oh, so you live with your mom?" his eyes widened as I shook my head again,

"No, my Dad died on June 17th, when I was 9, and after that, Mom pretty much fell apart, so she took off, leaving me to wake up one morning to a note telling me she's gone to America. Stupid, she was never a good mother to me," I sighed. His eyes widened,

"Yo-your Dad died on June 17th, when you were nine?" he seemed like he was struggling with something, but I'd figure he'd tell me soon enough,

"Yeah, down by the river, I was there..." I lowered my head in sadness and shame. Ichigo grabbed my shoulders as I looked up at him,

"Y...Your father may have been killed by a hollow," he muttered the last word quietly, but with more hatred than all the other words. I was momentarily confused,

"What's a hollow?" I asked. He was quick to reply,

"That thing you just saw there. They feed off living souls and souls of the departed. My mother was killed by a hollow on the same day, same year, same place. He may have been killed by a Grand Fisher," he was shaking slightly, but I became frustrated, and shook his hands off my shoulders,

"That's ridiculous! I told you, that's the first time I've seen one of those things! How can he have possibly been killed by a hollow? It was all my fault!" I took off down the pavement, and the last thing I heard from him before the distance between us was too far was, _'That's what I'd told myself all my life, too....'_

~*~*~

I draped myself lazily over the sofa, a cup of hot chocolate steaming on a placemat on the coffee table. I switched on the TV, but I wasn't exactly concentrating on it.

"Could be have possibly been killed by a hollow?" I questioned myself out loud, though I had no idea. I was starting to doubt my theory that it was the first time I'd had an encounter with a hollow. I was brought out of my thoughts when the phone had rung, and after letting it ring for more than enough time, I picked myself up and walked over by the phone, picking up,

"Hello?" I muttered in a cold tone, that although wasn't intended, was how I felt like speaking to people,

"Ah~, hello? Is this the Ishikawa residence?" a male tone that sounded slightly musical passed through the phone and into my ear, I made a gruff noise of approval,

"Ah, yes, well~, if you want to know what happened to your Dad six years ago, I know what happened!" I gasped as I dropped the phone. It hung off the cord as I struggled to come to terms with what he'd said. After a few seconds I came back to the world to hear his voice through the phone,

"Hello? Hello? Miss Ishikawa?" I picked up the phone quickly and pressed it back to my ear,

"Y-yes, sorry. Where can I meet you?" my voice was shaky, and the phone was unsteady in my hand. I gripped it with both of my hands to maintain a better hold on it. After a few minutes, his voice re-emerged,

"If you could come to the Urahara Shoten at 12am midnight, then that would be great~," I grabbed the piece of paper next to me, and the pen that lay on top of it,

"Okay, what address is that?"

TBC.

--

Sorry for the crappy chapter, the story will improve as it develops x]

Sadly, the next chapter will just be explanations. So if you don't know much about Bleach, lucky you!

POLL: Since in my written story I do a Bleach/Vampire Knight crossover [Only Zero && Kaname are involved], should I add that into my plot in this one? Please put it in your reviews ! ;3

Since I've written up the next few chapters, next chapter, I'll start doing little 'Previews' for the chapters :]


	4. Explanations

**Chapter 3 - Explanations**

_**In the previous chapter...**_

"_If you could come to the Urahara Shoten at 12am midnight, then that would be great~," I grabbed the piece of paper next to me, and the pen that lay on top of it,_

"_Okay, what address is that?"_

--

I carefully approached the destination, the piece of paper with the address on clutched in my hand. It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. I went to press the bell, but the door was flung open,

"Ahh~, hello Kishiko-chan! Welcome to the Urahara Shoten! I'm Urahara, pleased to meet you!" The man with blond hair that was covered by a green and white hat stood in front of me. I bowed and straightened back up, shaking his outstretched hand. His grip tightened as he pulled me inside, leading me into a room with many pained faces. They all turned to look at me when I stepped inside, and sighed when I spotted a familiar face. Sitting round the table were a man with red hair and crazy tattooed eyebrows, a girl with shoulder length black hair, a piece of it hanging down the front of her face, a big breasted woman with long flowing hair, a small boy with white spiky hair, and Ichigo. As they all sat round the table, I noticed they all sported the same black uniform that I had been clad in earlier, the only exception being the white-haired boy, who additionally had a white haori over his uniform. I sighed as I was guided to a vacant pillow next to Ichigo. He looked up at me,

"I'm sorry, this wasn't my fault," he said sadly. I sighed again, muttering 'Sure'. I was about to sit down, before Ichigo stood up behind me. Urahara laughed,

"I'm sorry Kishiko-chan, just one second!" he grabbed a cane resting against the wall and pressed the end against my forehead. Just like the incident with the 'hollow', I was pushed out of my body, and found myself clad in the black uniform like everybody else. I felt dizzy, and I was struggling to breathe a little bit, and my back was already starting to ache from the staff-like sword strung across my back. I hadn't noticed before, but everybody else also had swords with them. They all had them in their sash, apart from Ichigo's, who's was also across his back. Ichigo had caught my lifeless body and was setting down on the floor. Nobody else seemed to have a body anywhere,

"Where are everybody else's bodies?" I questioned. The white-haired boy was the first to speak,

"Us four here don't have actual bodies since we're spirits. We have things called gigais, which are artificial bodies created for us so we can move around the real world while being seen," his voice was hard and cold, but in a way soothing. Something clicked,

"Oh, so because you're just spirits, you're like the souls I see? So nobody else can really see them?" the red head nodded,

"Yeah, but we're harder to see than normal spirits. A person may be able to see normal souls, but they may not have enough spiritual pressure to see a Shinigami," his voice was deeper than the boy's. I nodded,

"Uh-huh, so, I have enough 'Spiritual Pressure' to see you guys? And I suppose, become one?" Everybody nodded. Urahara clapped his hands,

"Okay! Before I take Kishiko-chan down to the training room, it's very rude if you don't introduce yourselves," he said it in a playful tone, but it was obvious it was an order. The white haired boy cleared his throat,

"Yes, well, I'm the Captain of Squad 10, Toshiro Hitsugaya," he held out his hand and I took it, taking an instant liking to him. Though he seemed formal, his personality seemed to be very nice. The next one to speak was the long haired woman,

"Hi, Kishiko-chan! I'm Taichou's second-hand woman, Rangiku Matsumoto, but you can just call me Rangiku-chan! We're gonna be so good friends!" She jumped up and instead of shaking my hand, pulled me into a death-grip hug between her breasts that left me struggling for air,

"Matsumoto...san...trouble...breathing!" I gasped when she let me go. She smiled,

"Oh sorry! And remember, it's Rangiku-chan!" She grinned as she sat down. Her personality seemed very enthusiastic, but she looked like somebody I could get along with. The black-haired girl was the next to stand up and take my hand, a sweet smile on her face,

"Hello, I'm Rukia Kuchiki of Squad 13, it's great to meet you, I'm sure we're gonna be great friends," her sweet attitude rubbed off on me and I found myself smiling in response. Last but not least was the red haired man. He held out his fist, and taking the hint, I pounded my fist with his,

"Yo, I'm Renji Abari, Fukutaichou of Squad 6. Pleased to meet ya," he also seemed like somebody who I could get along with, so that made me happy.

"And you've met Ichigo, so that settles it, now, time to go to the-" Urahara was cut off by yet another one of my questions,

"Wait, I came here to know how my Dad was killed. So tell me... please. What happened to him?" Urahara adjusted his hat,

"Yes, well, it seems that from the information Ichigo gave us, it appears that there is a very high possibility that he was killed by a Grand Fish-" I threw my hands in the air,

"Oh great, another one! Get it in your thick skull, my Dad was NOT killed by a hollow! That's it! I'm getting outta here!" I swiftly turned around, only to bump into a tall figure. I looked up to see a man wearing glasses and an apron staring at me,

"I'm sorry, but I cannot let you leave," he spoke in a gruff voice. I turned back round to scowl at Urahara, who opened up a fan and flapped it in front of his face,

"And besides..." he pointed his fan in a direction which I followed, to find my body being dragged away by two kids. Urahara chuckled as he finished his sentence,

"...We have your body held hostage!" I scowled and muttered 'Brats' before I sighed and held out my hand, figuring that I wouldn't be able to do much without it.

"Fine, take me to this training room of yours; I suppose I can put up with it for a while." Ichigo stood up and moved beside me,

"I'll come with her, I know how challenging it can be," he spoke. His voice held concern and worry, which didn't help, but I knew it would help once we got inside and got starting. Urahara turned around and began walking, just turning his neck so his face was only half-visible. His eyes were shaded by his hat, making him seem even more mysterious than I thought he was,

"Well, then. Shall we get started?"

TBC.

--

Sooo, training starts next chapter! Sorry it's a little shorter than the last one, but hopefully the next one will be longer.

_**In the next chapter...**_

"_Ask your zanpakuto... its name!" I heard his voice faintly through into my world as the ground began to crumble. I felt like I was falling, but at the same time I was feeling nothing at all._

"_My zanpakuto's name... is..."_


	5. Training Begins

**Chapter 4 – Training Begins**

_**In the previous chapter...**_

_Urahara turned around and began walking, just turning his neck so his face was only half-visible. His eyes were shaded by his hat, making him seem even more mysterious than I thought he was,_

"_Well, then. Shall we get started?"_

--

I picked myself up after landing flat on my face at the bottom of the training room. I sighed,

"Stupid Renji..."

~*About 1 Minute Ago*~

"Jump? Down there?" I was worried. The jump was pretty big, although Ichigo and Urahara had gotten down there with ease. I'd been standing there for about 5 minutes, stalling going down there. Urahara had said the ladder was fake, it was just there for decoration. I had nearly gathered the courage to jump when I heard Renji mutter 'For God's sake!' and the next thing I knew, his hands pressed on my back, forcing me down the hole.

~*End Flashback*~

"I'm gonna get him back for that..." I mumbled, rubbing my lower back. As I looked around, I had almost forgotten we were indoors. A bright blue 'sky' hung over rocks, gravel, and more rocks. Not much to look at, but its open space was obviously the best for combat. Ichigo came over and looked at me,

"Are you okay? You took a pretty hard landing there. Sometimes Renji doesn't know what he's doing. Teme," he held out his hand which I took, as he led me towards Urahara. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them, before he took me from Ichigo's grasp. He spoke softly as he lightly placed his hand on my forehead,

"You're going to go into your inner world. Don't die in it, because if you do, your existence will be wiped from this world. I'll try to communicate to you from here, but it may be hard to hear me. Good luck, Kishiko," as he finished, I slipped away from the training room, and a few seconds later, I was in a huge field. As I looked around, I came across a waterfall, but instead of water falling, it was sand. A pack of wolves lay by the 'sandfall'. As they looked up at me, I panicked, but they didn't do anything except lay their heads back on their paws. As I looked up, the sky was a pinky-orange, like a sunset, but thick black clouds lined the sky. I raised an eyebrow, and looked down at the grass, which, luckily, was a thick lush green,

"Well, at least the grass is normal," I mumbled to myself. A voice suddenly ran through the air,

"It's about time you showed up," a deep growl rumbled as I looked up to see a beautiful looking wolf with long, thick, silky fudge-coloured fur. He was taller, and more larger than the other wolves I'd seen earlier, signalling that he was the alpha. As I took a closer look, I saw three small rings pierced in his right ear. I cocked my head to the side, deciding since I'd already asked so many questions, I shouldn't lack the confidence to now,

"Umm... why is your right ear pierced?" I asked. A smile formed,

"I'm glad you asked," he closed his eyes, and after a few seconds, he began to morph. As it progressed, I realised. He'd become a human. His new appearance hadn't changed much. He was very tall, definitely taller than Ichigo. His eyes were a bright ocean blue, with tanned skin. Instead of having long fur, his hair was spiky. It would have probably come up to his chin if it was brushed down or straight. I noticed the same small silver rings across the top of his ear, as well as rings across his fingers. He wore a grey with dark ripped denim jeans. His high tops were black, and he wore chains around his waist with different coloured wristbands clad on each wrist. His muscles rippled through his shirt. I was so knocked away I hadn't noticed the ground had begun to rumble. He smirked and clicked his fingers, and the ground began to shake with even more ferocity. I was shook out of my daydream as his smirk grew wider,

"This is your test Kishiko. Your test to see if you can survive," though his smirk held mischief, his eyes held sadness. The wolves resting peacefully had took off at the sudden interruption, and a huge hole formed underneath me. Before I knew it, I was falling. The only thing I heard after that was the faint words of his voice speaking,

"I'm so sorry, don't die," All of a sudden, Urahara spoke,

"Ask your zanpakuto... its name!" I heard his voice faintly through into my world as the ground began to crumble. I felt like I was falling, but at the same time I was feeling nothing at all.

"My zanpakuto's name... is..." Then, everything went black.

"_Were you my zanpakuto?" That man's figure was standing in front of me. He nodded, and spoke,_

"_You have more time. Ask me my name! Before it's too late!" he yelled, trying to encourage me. My throat felt sore, as if I'd been screaming out forever. All I wanted was to be back in the real world. Back to my normal life. But still, back with Ichigo. I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't feel my heartbeat. I couldn't feel my limbs. I couldn't feel anything. But I knew I was going to die if I didn't pull everything together,_

"_Wha...what is your name?" I seemed to be choking on my words. When no reply came, I sighed,_

"_I...I'm de-" Before I could finish my sentence, I was grabbed by the man who was my zanpakuto, and he caught me in a hug so tight it seemed like he would never let go. He whispered gently into my ear,_

"_My name, is..." _as he softly whispered his name in my ear, a big white explosion filled my vision, and I was falling out of his arms, and soon landed into Ichigo's.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I stood up and took my Zanpakuto off my back, and took my first real look at it. The top of it was a sort of star shape, but as it got to the bottom, it turned into a blade, which, as I gave it a quick flick, fanned out into several blades. The black ribbon was still tied around it, but it seemed longer than last time. I smiled, and closed my eyes,

"Yeah, me and Kirilo are just fine."

TBC.

_--_

Yayy, she found out her Zanpakuto name :3 Hope your just as happy for her as I am :P I know I've already described Kirilo once, but I left some things out :P Some Ichigo smut coming up soooon! So if you're not an Ichigo fan girl, tough luck! 'Cause me and Kishiko are! xD Sorry the preview for the next chapter isn't very good :P

_**In the next chapter...**_

"_So, figured out how she got her powers yet?" Ichigo asked. Urahara nodded,_

"_Yes, but it's so strange. I haven't seen a case of this in 350 years," Ichigo raised an eyebrow,_

"_What is it?"_


	6. Training Ends, Research Begins

**Chapter 5 - Training Ends, Research Begins**

_**In the previous chapter...**_

"_Are you okay?" he asked. I stood up and took my Zanpakuto off my back, and took my first real look at it. The top of it was a sort of star shape, but as it got to the bottom, it turned into a blade, which, as I gave it a quick flick, fanned out into several blades. The black ribbon was still tied around it, but it seemed longer than last time. I smiled, and closed my eyes,_

"_Yeah, me and Kirilo are just fine,"_

--

"Okay, now you know the name of your zanpakuto, we can start training!" Urahara sung happily. I nodded, and decided to do some stretches to warm up. Ichigo sat down in front of me, looking a bit bored,

"So, what did Kirilo look like?" he asked. I stopped mid-stretch,

"Well, when I first saw him, he was a huge, beautiful wolf, with long, silk, fudge coloured fur. It was pretty amazing. Then, he morphed into a human even more beautiful. He looked a bit like you, actually. Just with piercings and different coloured hair and eyes," I laughed and saw a smile play on his face a bit. I carried on stretching, thinking about what it was like inside my inner world. It was very strange, but it was fascinating. I decided to ask about Ichigo's zanpakuto,

"Hey, come to think of it, I know nothing about your zanpakuto, what's its name?" Ichigo lifted his head to look at me,

"Oh, mine? That's Zangetsu," I mulled over the name,

"Zangetsu, huh? Does he look anything like my Kirilo?"Ichigo shook his head,

"Nah, he looks like a human, but he's an old man. He wears this weird cloak and glasses. His hair's sorta a dark brown, and a wavy medium haircut thing," I laughed,

"I see. Sexy,"

"Not really,"

"Awww, don't be so hard on him," I looked over and grinned, to which he replied with a small smile. Urahara clapped his hands,

"Okay, it's time to do this. A quick spar will do, just to test your strength for now. We'll get into the proper stuff later, now, come at me with all you've got!" I panicked. I hadn't done anything with my zanpakuto yet, and I was already being asked to use it. Instinct kicked in when Urahara came swining his zanpakuto at me. I flipped Kirilo sideways and blocked the attack. Urahara smirked,

"You hesitated. Never hesitate in battle, otherwise you'd probably be dead by now. If you don't start fighting back, I'm gonna get it out of you," he jumped back, and readied his sword. I sighed,

"I don't want to fight you, Urahara," I said. Urahara tutted,

"What if I told you I killed your father?" I gasped,

"Y-You killed my father?"

"Yes. And you didn't do anything about it. He died right there, and you couldn't protect him! He'd still be alive if you weren't so weak!" As soon as he said that, I cracked. I felt the anger swell up inside me,

"You sick bastard!" I screamed, and rushed straight towards him, fanning out the blades and attacking him. He blocked most attacks, but I finally managed to get him in the chest. As more heat swelled up inside me, I saw a red circle glowing inside the star. Ichigo gasped,

"Cero!" he yelled. Urahara's eyes widened, and held his zanpakuto in front of him,

"Scream, Benihime!" as the red circle turned into a big blast, Urahara's chant caused another big explosion to fill the sky[1]. As the fog cleared, rocks everywhere had been destroyed, but surprisingly, neither of us, or Ichigo, had been injured in the blast. Urahara smiled,

"Well well, Cero. Looks like you have a pretty powerful Zanpakuto there," I looked over to Ichigo, who was in shock. He quietly muttered 'Woahh...' before Urahara placed Benihime back in his cane,

"Looks like today's training is complete,"

TBC.

--

Sorry for the short chapter, I'm currently busy packing since we're moving house, but I'm still trying to update :3 You won't have an update for a while after the next chapter or so since we won't get a network connection for the first week or so ^^

_**In the next chapter...**_

_As we approached my house, I gasped,_

_"Oh, holy shit..." Ichigo looked at me,_

_"What's wrong?" I pointed in the direction of my house; or at least where my house should have been. As he looked, a gasped slipped past his mouth, too. The front of the house had been completely torn down, and the roof was barely a roof anymore. _


	7. Burnin' Up

**Chapter 6 - Burnin' Up**

_**In the previous chapter...**_

_"Well well, Cero. Looks like you have a pretty powerful Zanpakuto there," I looked over to Ichigo, who was in shock. He quietly muttered 'Woahh...' before Urahara placed Benihime back in his cane,_

_"Looks like today's training is complete,"_

--

Worn out from being in the training room for what seemed like forever, I tiredly emerged from the hole at the top of the training room, back into the Shoten. Urahara, Ichigo, and I entered the room where everybody had been before we'd left. They seemed to be getting impatient, with Rangiku yawning loudly, Renji draped over the table, fighting the will to sleep, Rukia leaning back on her hands, rocking side to side, and Toshiro drumming his fingers on the table. They all stood up when they saw us enter, and Rangiku and Rukia instantly rushed over to us,

"So, how did it go?" Rangiku asked enthusiastically, but with a hint of worry in her tone. Rukia nodded in agreement to Rangiku's question as they leaned in closer. I put my hands in front of me,

"Woah, woah! Not so close! Don't worry, everything went fine. I found out the name of my zanpakuto," I smiled as they jumped up and down. Toshiro cleared his throat,

"It sounded like you were in a bit of trouble earlier. We heard a massive blast and the whole shop was rumbling," he spoke the whole thing without even making eye contact. I laughed nervously as Urahara placed his hand on my shoulder,

"Yes, well, it seems that Kishiko-chan can perform Cero from her zanpakuto," though he said it in quite a cheerful tone, everybody had looked up, switching their views between my face and Kirilo, who I'd placed back on my back. Renji, who had seemed to be dead, was now fully awake,

"She can perform Cero?" Ichigo nodded,

"Yeah, she can perform it out of that big star thing. Speaking of which, how on earth did you do it?" I shrugged,

"I dunno, I just got really mad when Urahara said that he'd...killed...my...speaking of which, I still haven't killed you!" I lunged for Urahara again, only to be grabbed by Ichigo and pulled back, restraining me. Urahara flipped his fan in front of his face again,

"Oh, did I say that? I was only joking, it was to see how strong you were!" Though I felt better, I couldn't help but get angrier,

"How dare you! Using my weakness against me? You bastard!" I struggled to get free from Ichigo's grip, and Urahara sighed,

"Kishiko, a lot of people will use your weaknesses against you. You must learn to deal with it," my struggles ceased as I sighed, and was let out of my restraint,

"I guess. I suppose I should get home. Could I at least have my body back?" I remembered that those two random brats had dragged it away. Urahara nodded,

"Of course, it's over there," he pointed towards the corner, where my body was slumped against the wall. I picked it up and, doing what Ichigo had shown me earlier, morphed back with it. Urahara unflipped his fan and begam to walk away,

"Well, I need to start researching into Kishiko-chan's mysterious first encounter with becoming a Shinigami, since it seems that she did not gain these powers recently," he turned around to look at all of us,

"Shouldn't all of you be finding a place to stay?" they all sighed and stood up, except for Renji. I cocked my head,

"Renji, where are you gonna go?" he looked up to me,

"Hmm? Oh, I stay here whenever I visit the real world," I nodded looked around at everybody else, waiting to see if anybody was looking for a place to stay. Rangiku stretched out,

"Well, I suppose I should get going to Orihime's! Taichou, you should come to this time instead of being so anti-social!" she grabbed his arm and dragged him out with her, waving to everybody and grinning at me. Rukia began to follow them,

"Well, I'm going back to Soul Society. Nii-sama wants me to do something for him. Kishiko-chan, it was great to meet you, hopefully I'll see you soon," she waved goodbye to Renji and Ichigo, and then made her exit. Ichigo bowed his head to Renji, to which Renji replied with a gruff 'See ya, Ichi. Bye Kishiko' before we both left. When we got outside, Ichigo sighed in relief. I laughed,

"Glad to get out of there?" he laughed in response,

"Yeah. Hey, lemme walk you home, it's the least I can do for gettin' you into this," I smiled,

"Sure thing."

~*~*~(About 2:45am)~*~*~

As we approached my house, I gasped,

"Oh, holy shit..." Ichigo looked at me,

"What's wrong?" I pointed in the direction of my house; or at least where my house _should _have been. As he looked, a gasped slipped past his mouth, too. The front of the house had been completely torn down, and the roof was barely a roof anymore. Fire engines were swooped around the house, along with ambulances and police cars. Ichigo gulped, before he spoke,

"Go. I'll wait here, they won't be able to see me anyway since I'm still in Shinigami form," speaking the words, I took off down to the police tape, and pushed past the crowd, who cursed and muttered random insults. As I got to the front, a policeman shouted,

"Hey, hey, not so fast lady!" he pushed me back, but after the fight I had had today, I felt strong and pushed back,

"Not so fast my ass! This is my house! What the hell happened?!" the policeman stopped forcing me back and I stumbled foward slightly, catching the tape,

"This is your house?" he asked. I nodded, as he sighed,

"Well, about 30 minutes ago, one of the neighbours called saying they saw smoke. When we got here, it had turned into a big fire. You hadn't of happened to left anything hazardous on before you left, had you?" I shook my head,

"No, everything was off. Not even the heating," he raised an eyebrow and noted what I'd said down on a notepad,

"Okay, well, it looks like possible arson then," I gasped,

"Arson? Well, how much of my house is destroyed?"

"Pretty much everything," he spoke. I suddenly realized something,

"Oh, no! My pictures of Dad!" although the policemen tried to stop me, I tore through the tape and into the battered house. I heard one of them shout,

"Hey, come out of there! That house is unstable, it could collapse at any moment!!" he yelled. But I didn't listen. I started sobbing when I found the shrine I'd built for my Dad. The only thing there that could still be made out was an old photo, about 8 years old. Though it was badly ruined, I could still make it out. It was a day when we had decided to go to the beach. By the shore, two pairs of feet were being washed up by the waves. Hand in hand, stood me and my Dad. I wore a pink, yellow, and blue frilly summer dress, something I wouldn't be caught dead wearing now. I clutched my pink sandles in my free hand, and my hair was clipped up with pink butterfly clips. My Dad was clad in camo three-quaters, with a white shirt on. His flip flops were also in his free hand, and he wore sunglasses on his slightly spiked hair. We both had grins on our faces, as the sun beat down on us. It was almost as if I could feel the sun on the back of my neck, and the waves swimming around our feet, but in the end the only thing I felt were two hands on each arm, dragging me away from the house. I saw Ichigo approaching out of the corner of my eye. He'd gone back to get his body, as he was dressed in a white t-shirt with green and red stripes, and green ripped combats. He grabbed my arm, and tugged me, leading me away,

"Come on, wait for the people to come away. We'll stay as long as you want," I compressed a sob as I buried my face into his chest. He embraced me, wrapping his arms around me, almost protectively. He was extremely well-built. Although his chest was hard and muscly, it was warm and comfortable. His arms made me feel safe, and almost forget about everything that had just happened. I heard footsteps, and a man's voice,

"Excuse me, Miss, did you say that this was your home?" I turned my face so that I was still in Ichigo's chest, but I could see the man,

"Yes, why?"

"Well, you were very lucky to not be there. Sadly, we could not retrieve anything from your home. Everything has been burnt to a crisp. We can find you accomodation for toni-"

"She can stay with me. We have spare accomodation at our hospital," I looked up at Ichigo,

"You sure?" I asked. He nodded. The man made a noise of approval,

"Ahhh, Isshin's boy? Well, I'm sure she'll be in very good hands. As soon as we find out how this happened, and, if it was an arson, who it was. We'll get a court case set up and make sure you get compensation," I shook my head,

"I don't need charity. I'll find away around it, I have before," his expression became concerned,

"Are you sure? We can get you thousands and thousands for this case if it's an arson," I shook my head again,

"No, I'm fine," he raised an eyebrow,

"Very well. We'll contact you when we get any news. We'll get things finished up," I nodded as Ichigo led me away, saying goodbye and thanks to him. As we'd gotten away from the chaos, Ichigo looked at me,

"Are you sure you don't need any money? Our hospital can provide you with some money to get you a new house and get you b-"

"I'm sure. Like I said, I don't need charity, I can get by on my own, and I'll manage to find a roof over my head. Speaking of which, are you sure about me staying at yours tonight?" Ichigo nodded,

"Of course. We're a hospital, we can't refuse somebody in need," he still had one arm around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder, clutching the photo in my hand.

~*~*~

"So now she has nothing left. They think it might be arson." We stood at the front door, in front of the Kurosaki family. One of Ichigo's little sisters, Yuzu, was in tears, along with his Dad, who was hugging Yuzu. Karin was looking ashamed, aswell as Ichigo. Yuzu and Isshin carried on bawling,

"Oh, dear! Poor Kishiko-chan!" Yuzu cried,

"Of course she can stay tonight! And tomorrow night! As long as she wants!" Isshin cried in reply. I smiled sweetly,

"Thank you, Yuzu-chan, Mr. Kurosaki. I'll be out of your way as soon as possible," Yuzu hugged me,

"Oh, don't hurry! Stay as long as you want! I'll wash your uniform so it's nice and clean tomorrow!" I was confused,

"My unifo-, oh, of course, I still have it on!" I exclaimed looking at the side of my skirt. As I looked back up, my eyes met with Karin's, who was staring at me uneasily. I quickly diverted my gaze towards Yuzu, who was already rushing off towards the laundry room. Isshin slapped my back, knocking the wind out of me,

"Don't worry, Kishiko-chan! Yuzu will have your bed all set up soon. Will you want a bath?"

"No thank you, I'm fine," Ichigo slipped off his shoes and replaced them with slippers, making his way upstairs,

"She can stay in my room until the bed's finished," I slipped off my shoes and followed him up the stairs, and all the way I felt Karin's uneasy gaze tear a hole through me.

~*~*~

I came back into Ichigo's room, wearing the all-too-tight PJ's Yuzu had given me. I pulled down the vest, embarrassed. Ichigo blushed when he saw me. I laughed nervously,

"I told her I was a little too tall to fit into her clothes, but she insisted, and I didn't want to upset her," my laugh got a bit more nervous as I found myself blushing aswell. I felt like I'd put my PJ's on from when I was 5. They were very girly. The vest was a stripy yellow and pink, with pink shorts with a yellow heart on the right leg. The shorts felt more like underwear, and the vest felt like a skin-tight leotard. Luckily, it was longer than that, but it still came up past my belly button. I looked around Ichigo's bedroom. The decoration was very minimalistic. And I'd thought mine was bad. Ichigo walked over to his drawers, and rooted through it, until he picked out a blue shirt. He threw it at me,

"Here, give yourself some dignity," I laughed,

"Arigatou," I placed it over Yuzu's PJ's. If Ichigo hadn't been so well-built, it would have probably fit me, but luckily, since he was so muscly, the shirt was big enough to drape over me below my upper thighs. I gave him a quick hug, before opening the door, looking over my shoulder,

"Arigatou, Ichigo-kun. Goodnight," Ichigo smiled,

"Yeah, 'night."

TBC.

--

A bit away from the story at the moment. I hadn't planned to add this in, but it fits in with the eventual Ichigo smut :P I've moved foward the research part alot. Originally it was going to be the previous chapter, than this chapter, and now it's definately next chapter, because otheriwse it'll never fit in :P It was going to be this chapter, but this one's turned out longer than I expected xD Not really relevant to what's happened, but I felt like doing this sort of chapter :P By the way, even though it's really late at night, they were all up because Ichigo wasn't in his room x]

_**In the next chapter...**_

_"So, figured out how she got her powers yet?" Ichigo asked. Urahara nodded,_

_"Yes, but it's so strange. I haven't seen a case of this in 350 years," Ichigo raised an eyebrow,_

_"What is it?"_


	8. Research Progress

**Chapter 7 - Research**

_**In the previous chapter...**_

_I gave him a quick hug, before opening the door, looking over my shoulder,_

_"Arigatou, Ichigo-kun. Goodnight," Ichigo smiled,_

_"Yeah, 'night."_

--

I smiled as I finished off my breakfast,

"Thanks, Yuzu. I forgot what it's like to have a proper family breakfast." It was true. I hardly ate any breakfast anymore, and if I did, it was only a piece of toast or two. But Yuzu had cooked us all an English breakfast. It was hard to believe she was only 11. For some strange reason, Karin still seemed hostile towards me, but I'd decided to ignore it. I was tired since last night I went into Shinigami form to accompany Ichigo, but I was wide awake as soon as I'd finished,

"Kishiko-chan, I have your uniform all washed and ready. It's out on your bed," I stood up and collected my plate and cutlery,

"Arigatou, Yuzu-chan, for the breakfast and the uniform!" I placed my plate in the sink and rushed up to the small room I was sharing with the twins. As I was clipping my bra into place, I heard a voice behind me,

"What are you doing here?" I grabbed my shirt and held it up in front of me. Standing in the doorway was Karin, holding the same hostile gaze she had done since last night. I began to put my shirt on,

"We told you last night. My house got torn to shreds. I have no-"

"I'm not talking about that. I know you're the same as Ichigo. I can sense it, like I can with Ichigo. You go out in that weird black uniform with those swords. I saw you sneaking out last night. Don't take me for a fool!" I gasped and left my ribbon drooping mid-tie. After a few seconds, I laughed nervously,

"Oh, come on, Karin, it's only my first night here. I wouldn't be sneaking out!" Karin's eyes narrowed,

"Don't treat me like I'm stupid. I'll pretend I don't know... for now. But don't take me for a fool from now on," and with that she left the room, leaving me shocked. Ichigo hadn't mentioned that Karin could see spirits. I quickly tied my bow and left the bedroom, looking in the opposite direction as I passed Karin.

~*~*~

"Won't people be suspicious if we're spotted walking to school together? It could really damage your reputation," Ichigo smiled,

"Nah, don't worry. If they tease, we'll just beat 'em up," I chuckled, "And besides, I'm pretty sure _everybody's_ heard about by now. I heard it was on the news. And besdies, when a 'truck' supposedly crashed into my house, itwasahollowbytheway, everybody heard about that straight away. And it happened at the night, and everybody found out the morning after," I brought my bag over my shoulder, looking at my feet as we walked,

"Hey, did you know that Karin knows your secret?" I looked up at Ichigo as he looked at me back,

"Y-yeah, only recently though. I try to avoid the subject. How did you know?" I sighed,

"She confronted me this morning and told me. I wondered why I'd been looked at so strangely by her last night and this morning," he raised an eyebrow,

"Hmm, well, coming off the subject, I want you to meet some poeople. They're in our class, so hopefully you'll recognize them. They know about the whole secret thing."

"Ohh, really? Can't wait."

"Good, good. You can come hang with us today," as we approached the school, I felt my stomach drop. I was not looking foward to this.

~*~*~

We'd managed to finally get into the classroom. Aswell as the fact that everybody was asking about the house, unbeknownst to us, a paparazzi group had been there, and a picture or two had caught us in the crowd while we'd been hugging, so as well as everything else, there were now rumors going round that us two were going out. It was strange somehow. Yesterday I was having paper balls and even a cricket ball thrown at my head. Now, instead of mocking me, people were asking me if I was okay, asking me about my house, and most of all, asking me about my relationship with 'Berry head'. So, even though people were still questioning me homeroom, there were less people, since most had already asked me. Ichigo led me across the classroom towards a group of three people,

"Kishiko, this is Orihime, Chad, and Ishida," he pointed to each of them in turn, as they each bowed. I bowed back before Uryuu, the blue haired 'Quincy', spoke,

"So, you became a Shinigami yesterday?" he asked.

"Yeah, dunno how though. I was just automatically pushed out, it was so strange!" Uryuu 'hmm'd', before Ichigo continued,

"Yeah, Urahara's started to do some research into it, we're gonna go down later and see if he's made progress," I looked at him,

"We are?" I asked. He looked back and nodded,

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I thought I'd told you. Sorry," I shook my head,

"Nah, it's okay. Not like I have a home to go back to anyway," Ichigo's expression turned to somewhat annoyance and confusion,

"H-Hey! I'm giving you a home, aren't I?!" I laughed and stuck my tongue out at him,

"I've only known you for a day, but I seem to know you well enough to figure out that you panic alot!" I looked up to see Uryuu and Orihime smiling, and Chad... well... it was hard to see what Chad thought. His face always seemed to have the same expression. The bell rang, and we all took our places for home room. And the whole time I couldn't take my eyes of the berry-headed hero sitting two seats down one row across from me.

~*~*~

Me and Ichigo walked down the path towards Urahara Shoten. Uryuu, Orihime, and Chad were going to come with us, but they all had things to do. Uryuu had to do some Quincy training, Orihime had Rangiku and Toshiro to attend to, and Chad wanted to go and hang out with his other friends. So, as me and Ichigo walked down in a happy silence, we finally reached the small shop.

"Strangely, I'm not looking foward to this," I muttered. Ichigo shoved his hands in his pockets,

"Me neither, to be honest. But trust me, you've got it worse, Urahara preys on pretty girls," I shivered,

"Yeah, thanks for telling me now," I mumbled jokingly, missing his hint completely. We reached the front door and slid it open, walking in to find Renji.

"Hey, Renj," Ichigo greeted. He turned round, and I struggled to stifle a laugh,

"O...Oh my God, Renji. What are you wearing?" Looking him up and down, I saw that he was wearing a pink apron with white frills over hippy clothing, with a matching maid's cap. He was holding a vacuum in his hand. Me and Ichigo almost collapsed with laughter. He scowled at us,

"Shut up! That teme Urahara said that if I wanted to stay here I had to do some chores... in a specially designed uniform..." he blushed as we laughed even harder. After we'd calmed down, I apologised to Renji,

"No prob. I s'pose I woulda done the same if it was Ichigo wearing this."

"Hey! Don't get any ideas!"

"Oh c'mon, Ichigo, you'd look cute!"

"No way! Before we get any further with this, where's Urahara?"

"Oh, he's through there." Renji pointed to a door. We said our thank you's and goodbyes and slid the door open, to see a tired looking Urahara, pieces of paper spread around him on the table. He looked up and smiled when he saw us,

"Ah, Kishiko-chan, Kurosaki-kun, welcome, I'm glad your finally here," his tone sounded as tired as his appearance as we sat down on two already-prepared pillows, along with two freshly-prepared hot drinks. I took a small sip out of mine, whereas Ichigo downed almost all of his.

"So, figured out how she got her powers yet?" Ichigo asked. Urahara nodded,

"Yes, but it's so strange. I haven't seen a case of this in 350 years," Ichigo raised an eyebrow,

"What is it?" he slid forward a piece of paper that contained a lot of text, too much for me to be bothered to read it. I took a quick glance at it before he continued,

"A rare case where a human who may have had ancestors who have become Shinigami while they are still living, then the human is born instantly becoming a Shinigami without having to die, or go through a process like Ichigo has. Their first encounter with becoming a Shinigami normally occurs around mid-teens, like you, Kishiko. Its an extremely rare genetic condition, but does come with its side effects," I was the one to raise an eyebrow this time,

"Side effects...?"

"Yes."

"Like?"

"Well, one example being, having an inner hollow," Ichigo's eyes widened,

"An inner hollow?" Urahara nodded,

"I'm afraid so. It may be a possibility. I'll need to take something of Kishiko's that contains her DNA," I nodded. I took a couple of strands of hair and tugged it out, wincing slightly. I handed it over, and he carefully placed them on a piece of paper, taping either end to keep it safe.

"Arigatou, Kishiko-chan. I can get the results in a couple of days."

"Arigatou, Urahara-san. Goodbye." I stood up with Ichigo and we made our way out, saying goodbye to Renji, who quickly took his apron and maid cap off when he saw us exiting. As we began down the road, I lightly linked my fingers in with his. He tensed up at the sudden contact, but quickly relaxed, and accepted it, closing the gap between our palms. We began to chat about things such as homework, homeroom, the strange day at school, Yuzu's cooking, and his Dad's idioticness. Time seemed to fly past as we reached the Kurosaki clinic.

"We're home!" Ichigo yelled. We slipped off our shoes and Ichigo put his slippers on. Yuzu came dancing into the room, presenting a pair of purple slippers,

"Here, Kishiko-chan! I bought these for you on the way home!" I sighed in relief, glad to have some comfort on my feet, and extremely glad that they weren't pink. She grabbed the bag in the doorway and rummaged through it,

"Oh, and I picked these up for you, too!" she placed the pair of slippers on top of a pair of purple and white pyjamas and handed them to me. I smiled warmly,

"Thank you, Yuzu-chan!" she grinned as I placed my new slippers on and walked upstairs, Ichigo following behind. We went into his bedroom, and I leant against his bed, bring one knee up to my chin to rest it on. Ichigo closed the door and sat on his desk chair, wheeling round to face me.

"So, how come you were so tense by the whole 'inner hollow' thing?" I asked. As soon as I said the words 'inner hollow', he seemed to instantly tense up like he had back at the Shoten. He sighed,

"An inner hollow, or Visored, is the technical term, is when a Shinigami has both Shinigami and hollow powers. If controlled, they are able to become stronger by producing their hollow mask. If it is unstable, the hollow will use weaknesses to take over the Shinigami at times, going insane and having a huge amount of strength. It can be stopped though, by fighting the hollow back and tearing the mask off," I gasped as my eyes widened,

"Woahh! How do you know so much about that, Mr. Smarty pants?!" he gulped and pulled his collar,

"Well, you see... I went through Urahara's process to become a Shinigami, and there were 3 stages. The second stage was a pit where I was restrained. I had to get out before these things encroached my spirit chain. I didn't get there in time, and it began turning me into a hollow, but somehow, I managed to fight it, and something went backwards with it, and I was a Shinigami, but a hollow at the same time."

"Woah, I bet that was horrible! Have anymore good stories?" he blushed, obviously embarrassed,

"Well, you know Rukia? She originally gave me my powers, but it was a crime to do so. So when she got taken away to get excecuted..." he continued to tell me, and he told me more stories that weren't relevant to Shinigami, like the first time he'd met Tatsuki, and the whole time I was happy to listen. It just felt soothing listening to his voice. We were brought out of it when we heard Yuzu yell 'Dinner!'. I rubbed my stomach,

"Yum, I could so do with some of Yuzu's cooking. Her breakfast was delicious!" Ichigo laughed,

"Yeah, she's a great cook." He looked at me, and cocked his head to the side,

"You look taller than yesterday..." he muttered. I looked. It _had _ been easier to look at him today,

"Oh yeah, I'm about as tall as your lips. Well, at least I'll have no problem kissing you," I laughed, and although I half meant it, I noticed Ichigo had gone quiet,

"Ichigo, are you okay?" I asked. He shook his head and looked at me,

"Oh, what? Yeah, fine."

"Good good, c'mon, time for dinner," I danced down the stairs towards the kitchen. I hadn't heard Ichigo mutter _'You'd be the perfect girlfriend...'_

TBC.

--

This chapter was originally going to all be about the research, but as you can see, it wasn't :P I know that 'condition' doesn't exist in Bleach, but it's MYYY story [: Finally shum Ichigo shmut next chapterrr ! Also Ichigo's POV x]

_**In the next chapter...**_

_We both looked at her, still gently snoring. I sighed,_

_"I don't know why," I muttered "but I think I'm in love with her."_


	9. Confessions

**Chapter 8 - Confessions**

_**In the previous chapter...**_

_"Ichigo, are you okay?" I asked. He shook his head and looked at me,_

_"Oh, what? Yeah, fine."_

_"Good good, c'mon, time for dinner," I danced down the stairs towards the kitchen. I hadn't heard Ichigo mutter 'You'd be the perfect girlfriend...'_

_--_

I put down my bowl and sighed in satisfaction,

"Wow, thanks, Yuzu-chan! That was even better than breakfast!" she lightly blushed and smiled,

"Thank you, Kishiko-chan!" I looked at Isshin,

"So, Mr. Kurosaki, do you get many patients here?" he was messily slurping up his noodles, along with Ichigo, who hadn't even touched his chopsticks. Like Father like Son, I suppose. He put down his bowl and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand,

"We're not totally regular like that Ishida. We're only a family clinic after all, but we do get the occasional bad patient," as soon as he'd finished, he picked up his bowl and began downing the remains of what was in the bowl. Ichigo finished up his bowl and placed it on the table, too. He ate like a pig, and yet he was so skinny. It made me wonder sometimes. I guessed it was all that Shinigami stuff he did. Yuzu stood up and collected all our bowls and began to wash up. She turned round,

"Ichi-nii, it's your turn to help with the washing up today!" he looked at me,

"Go ahead, I need to do homework, anyway," he nodded and went to help Yuzu, while I said my thanks and went up to Ichigo's room, since the girls' room was cramped now they had an extra person in there. I decided to change in my pyjamas first, though, since I hadn't had a proper look at them. My smile turned to shock when I noticed that the pyjamas were dotted with strawberries.

"Holy crap," I muttured, but put them on all the same. I found my English, Maths, and Japanese books and went next door into Ichigo's room. I set them down on the desk, moving some random _Weekly Shonen Jump_ comics to the side, fairly surprised that he read those sort of things. I opened my Japanese book and sighed, flipping through it. I took a pen from the pot sitting on the desk and began to write up the homework. A Japanese essay, an English essay AND the hardest Maths homework ever. Great.

~*~*~

I'd finished my Japanese homework, and Ichigo still hadn't come up. I folded my arms on the table and rested my head on them, fighting the sleep. Eventually, I gave in, and drifted off.

~*~*~

I was half asleep, and dreaming. But strangely... it felt so real...

~*~*~(Ichigo's POV)~*~*~

I sat on my bed, leaning against the window. Kishiko had fallen asleep by the time I got up, snoring softly. I looked at the clock. 11:02PM. I sighed and leaned my head back. Yuzu and Karin had decided to leave Kishiko there, since she looked so peaceful. And it was true, she did. I'd gone into somewhat shock and worry when I'd noticed that Kishiko's pyjamas were decorated with strawberries, but I'd ignored it. I'd noticed that she'd only done her Japanese homework, so, along with mine, I'd managed to complete hers, too. A sudden fairly loud knock on the window startled me, and Kishiko stirred. I panicked, but she continued snoring. I turned around to see Renji in his Shinigami form. I opened the window and he hopped through, settling on the window ledge.

"You idiot, Kishiko's sleeping. You could have woken her," I whispered harshly. Renji held up his hands in defense,

"Hey, sorry, I didn't know, did I? What's she doin' in your room, anyway?"

"She was doin' homework then she fell asleep, so we left her. She looked really tired."

"Ahhh, playing the ol' trick so you can look at her, eh?"

"W-what? I wasn't looking at her!"

"Oh, c'mon, I was outside that window for 10 minutes, and you were too busy looking at her sleeping to even notice my spiritual pressure."

"Shut up, you know I'm not very good at sensing it!"

"Oh sure, I know your bad, but you're not that bad!" our whispered argument came to a halt when Kishiko stirred again. We were silent for a few seconds before she started again. We sighed in relief. We both looked at her, still gently snoring. I sighed,

"I don't know why," I muttered "but I think I'm in love with her." Renji looked at me,

"Huh? You've only known her for nearly two days," he mumbled. I sighed,

"Only fully. But she's in my homeroom. I've been looking at her recently. There just seemed to be something about her. That's the only reason that I managed to save her that day, from the hollow, because I'd been watching her. I had a feeling about her, she had immense spiritual pressure. It's just her personality. She always seemed so closed off at school, but now I've known her, I know she's just the same and you. She wants to protect the people she loves. But she couldn't do that, but nobody loved her. You know, her dad was killed by a hollow," Renji gasped,

"He was?"

"Yeah. Her mom left her shortly after, all alone. She had nobody there for her. I know she had to work like hell to keep her house. I remember one week, in the morning I'd seen her serving in the local store, behind the counter before school, then in the afternoon I'd seen her in that local Chinese restauraunt, as a waitress. Then that evening she was back in the store, stacking shelves. She had nothing. I wanted to give her something." Renji shook his head,

"Ichigo, that isn't love. That's pity."

"No. I guess at first it was, but not anymore. Even in these first couple of days I've known her, she just seems... perfect. She's struggled so much, I respect her so much for that. She's strong, funny... cute. Renj, I think I _am_ in love with her."

~*~*~(Kishiko's POV)~*~*~

It was the strangest dream ever. I couldn't see anything, but I heard the voices of Renji and Ichigo, and Ichigo had said something about me.

_"I think I _am_ in love with her."_

It didn't take me long to figure out that the dream wasn't a dream. It was real.

TBC.

--

A lot shorter than the last two :3 A tad OOCness, sorry x]

Yayay for Ichigo smuttnessssss. *Major fangirl moment*

Yay yay yay yay yay yay [: Things be getting juicy soon? LOL.

ANYWAY, please R&R! I'm not a very good writer, but I like what I do [:

_**In the next chapter...**_

_"So, what was it you wanted to talk to us about, Kishiko-chan?" Yuzu asked. I stopped eating and placed my chopsticks down,_

_"Yes, well it seems that I've been given an apartment a few blocks down, so I can move from here,"_

_..._

_As I walked away, I looked over my shoulder, as a tear fell down my cheek,_

_"I don't want to go..."_


	10. Leavings & Returns

**Chapter 9 - Leavings & Returns.**

_**In the previous chapter...**_

_It was the strangest dream ever. I couldn't see anything, but I heard the voices of Renji and Ichigo, and Ichigo had said something about me._

_"I think I _am_ in love with her."_

_It didn't take me long to figure out that the dream wasn't a dream. It was real._

_--_

I woke up, to find myself in an unusual place. It then occured to me that I'd fallen asleep on Ichigo's desk. I looked around and saw Ichigo shirtless, picking his school shirt off the coat hanger. He turned around and saw me, and yelped,

"Oh my God! Kishiko, s-sorry!!" He quickly put his shirt on and buttoned it up. I couldn't help but laugh,

"Ahh, sorry Ichigo, but it's funny when you panic." He blushed madly, which caused me to snicker even more. I stood up and suddenly realised,

"Oh, crap, my homework! Oh, God, I'm so in-"

"Don't worry, I did it for you last night," I smiled,

"Wow, thanks, Ichigo. You're my saviour!" I skipped up to him and gave him a light peck on the cheek. I stopped when I remembered what I'd overheard him say last night, and blushed lightly. He laughed nervously and continued to button up the rest of his shirt, grabbing his books and placing them in his bag. I collected my books and began to make my way out of the room,

"I'd better go get changed," I mumbled. He nodded and I shut the door. I closed my eyes and sighed. I wasn't sure if he'd known whether I'd overheard or not, but now he seemed awkward. I went into the twins' room to get changed and quickly left the room.

~*~*~

I was almost about to leave with Ichigo when Yuzu called me down the hall,

"Oh, Kishiko-chan! Before you leave, there's somebody on the phone for you!" I turned round and started to walk towards the phone. Before I took the phone I turned around and looked at Ichigo,

"Go on ahead, I'll catch up," he nodded and exited the house, slowly closing the door behind him. I took the phone out of Yuzu's hand, thanking her, and carefully placing the reciever against my ear,

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Miss. Kishiko Ishikawa?" a voice I didn't recognise played into my ears,

"Um, yes, what can I do for you?"

"Yes, well, after the fire incident that occured at your house yesterday, we've managed to find you a small apartment free of charge. Sadly, we still have to find out how the fire was caused, but for now the least we can do is provide you with accommodation and some money to get you by, since the law requires us to provide every citizen a home," my eyes widened at the news, and my expression saddened,

"Okay, I'll come by and collect the keys later. I'll be moved in by tomorrow." I thanked the phone operator and placed the phone down. Yuzu came and stood by my side,

"What was that about, Kishiko-chan?" she asked, I looked down at her sadly,

"It doesn't matter, I'll tell you all at dinner," she nodded and said goodbye as I silently left the clinic.

~*~*~

The day had gone by pretty slowly. Ichigo and I had been fairly quiet around each other, causing a few awkward silences in the group. I'd ate my lunch away from everybody else today, giving Orihime the excuse that I needed time to think. I'd sat under the shaded tree like I'd used to every lunch, thinking about ways to tell them the news. After lunch, things were still quiet with Ichigo, and it was lucky that I hadn't had to walk home with him, since I had to go get the keys to my new apartment. I'd told Ichigo I needed to go to the library to get some books, and he quite easily accepted it. After collecting the keys and shoving them to the very bottom of my bag, I reached the Kurosaki clinic. I used the spare key I had been given and yawned loudly as I entered,

"I'm home," I mumbled quietly, placing my slippers on and making my way into the front room.

~*~*~

"Dinner time, everybody!" Yuzu called. I was already sat at the table, after helping Yuzu prepare it. Everybody quickly gathered, and after saying our thanks, we soon tucked in. A few minutes into the meal, Yuzu decided to speak up,

"So, what was it you wanted to talk to us about, Kishiko-chan?" Yuzu asked. I stopped eating and placed my chopsticks down,

"Yes, well it seems that I've been given an apartment a few blocks down, so I can move from here," Everybody suddenly stopped eating. Ichigo had his chopsticks midair, the noodles sliding between the grip. Isshin was slowly slurping up his noodles, looking at me. Yuzu and Karin had been collecting noodles from the bowl, and had quickly stopped when I'd spoke the news. I looked around at the family and instantly decided that it was the wrong time to have told them. After a few moments, Yuzu spoke up,

"Th...that's great, Kishiko-chan, you'll have a home again. When do you plan on moving in...? Next week, mon-"

"I plan to move in by tomorrow. I only have about 6 things to take with me, so I'll need no help packing. Thank you for all your hospitality, really. I've never felt more at home than I have in 7 years. If you don't mind, I'd like to get all the packing out the way. And don't worry, I'll only be returning here tomorrow afternoon to collect my things, and after that I'll be out of your way," I picked up my bowl, half finished, and emptied the remains into the bin, placing the bowl in the sink. I left the kitchen and made my way upstairs, trying to contian the tears.

I'd grabbed a plastic bag that Yuzu had left out yesterday and began packing my things.

"Hmm... well, I'm wearing my pyjamas tonight, so they have to stay out. I'm wearing my slippers, so they can stay out until tomorrow. I'll need my school uniform, and I'll need my book bag," I looked into the plastic bag, and realized I couldn't pack anything. I looked down at the small frame I'd placed at the side of my bed. Yuzu had bought me a new frame for the nearly-destroyed picture of me and my Father. I sighed as I picked it up,

"Dad, I don't want to leave. What should I do?" I sat there for a few minutes, with my eyes shut, before I heard feet plodding up the stairs. I set down the picture and began to put my pyjamas on. A light knock on the door came,

"Ichigo?" I asked. instead of his voice, came a voice I wasn't familiar with,

"No, it's Karin. Can we talk?" I was shocked. Karin had expressed so much hate towards me that night when she told me she knew. And now, her voice sounded... timid. More vunerable. I quickly put my pyjamas on and called her in. She slowly opened the door and poked her head round, before fully entering the room. She sat on my bed and sighed. I looked the the photo of my Dad before climbing over and sitting next to her,

"So, what's up, Karin?" she looked at me,

"Why are you leaving?" she asked. I looked surprised,

"Well, because I've been offered a nice apartment free, and even though I love it here, I knew it was only temporary. I had to leave someday," Karin sighed, and after a few seconds, wrapped her arms around me in a hug,

"I'm going to miss you, Kishiko-san," she said. I was even more surprised than before,

"Miss me? Karin-chan, I thought you hated me," she shook her head,

"No, I was just... mad at first. But, I can see it in his eyes. He really likes you, I don't think he's ever felt so good about himself," I pondered,

"Him? You couldn't mean..." she nodded,

"Yes, Ichigo. I see the way he looks at you," I panicked at first, thinking she was about to get mad, but she looked up at me and smiled,

"Thank you, Kishiko-san."

~*~*~(The Next Day, After School)~*~*~

Ichigo had been quiet with me all day. We had only talked once during the whole day, and that was a simple 'Good Morning' when we'd woken up. Things seemed even more silent then they had been at school now we were on our own walking back to the clinic. Ichigo gave a hefty sigh before he decided to speak,

"So, you leavin' today, huh? Sure you don't need any help packing?" I shook my head,

"No, I'm okay. Everything's already packed, I did it this morning before we left," he shook his head and we carried on walking in silence. After a few minutes he spoke up again,

"Do you think Urahara will have the results of that test?" he questioned. I shrugged my shoulders,

"I dunno. Let me know if he does, though," he looked at me,

"Y-you won't be coming?"

"Nah, I don't think this whole Shinigami thing is me. I might just forget about it," Ichigo's eyes widened, but didn't say anymore. After a while, we reached the clinic, and we stepped inside. Nobody bothered to say anything, as I went straight upstairs to collect my plastic bag.

~*~*~

I stood in the entranceway, Yuzu clinging to me. I finally managed to pry her off,

"Thank you, Yuzu-chan, and everybody, for your great hospitality. I hope we get to meet again sometime," I waved as I walked outside, closing the door behind me. Soon, it was just silence. I walked foward a little bit, and as I walked away, I looked over my shoulder, a tear fell down my cheek,

"I don't want to go..." I sobbed to myself.

"Then why are you going?" I spun round to see Renji. I sighed and shrugged,

"I dunno, I guess.. I just didn't belong there. We all knew it was temporary, and things were becoming awkward with Ichigo, I mea-"

"Don't you think that's just your feelings getting in your way? Look, I don't know if Ichigo knows, but I know you overheard every word of that conversation me and him had the other night. And Kishiko, I know you love him. It's so obvious. And you loved being in a family again, so why are you going back to square one?" I shook my head,

"No, things are better this way. It's obvious it's how God wants me to live my life, and I gotta acce-" I was cut off when I heard a voice from behind me,

"Kishiko!" I turned my head to see Ichigo running out the clinic and towards me. He grabbed my arms and pulled me into a hug,

"Kishiko, don't go..." he begged. My eyes widened,

"I...Ichigo?" I asked. I turned my head to look for Renji, but he'd already left. I rested my cheek on his chest and he pulled me in tighter,

"Kishiko, I don't want you to go. None of us do. So please, come back?" he voice sounded so pleading it was unbelievable. After a few seconds I wrapped my arms around Ichigo and nodded,

"Okay, I'll come back," he looked at me and smiled, before pulling me into a kiss. I was in pure shock, but as he pulled away, I smiled,

"Woahh... that was one way to make a first kiss," I laughed. He looked at me,

"T...that was your first kiss?" he asked. I nodded my head,

"Yeah... sorta embarrassing, I know," I mumbled. He laughed and took my hand in his,

"Don't worry, it was mine too. Now, c'mon, pick up your bag you just left lying in the road and come back," I smiled as I went over to pick up the bag and ran back to him, walking back only a few steps before we were at the clinic again, to be greeted by my new family.

This is what it felt like to have a family, after 7 whole years.

TBC.

--

Not much to this. I realise I'm getting more and more OOC, sorry, I'll try and get 'em back into character soon :P

_**In the next chapter...**_

_"I have the results of the test," Urahara spoke, almost sadly. I crossed my fingers under the table,_

_"And...?"_

_"They're not good..."_


	11. Results

**Chapter 10 - Results**

_**In the previous chapter...**_

_"Don't worry, it was mine too. Now, c'mon, pick up your bag you just left lying in the road and come back," I smiled as I went over to pick up the bag and ran back to him, walking back only a few steps before we were at the clinic again, to be greeted by my new family._

_This is what it felt like to have a family, after 7 whole years._

_--_

"Kishiko-chan! Guess what! We're taking you shopping!" I turned around to see Yuzu grinning and holding out some money. I shook my head,

"No, no, it's okay," I insisted. Yuzu tutted,

"Kishiko-chan, I've had to wash your underwear every night, the only clothes you have is your school uniform and your pyjamas, and frankly, I really wanna take you shopping!" she grinned and danced around, flapping the money. Ichigo stood behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders,

"Yuzu, if you're not careful, you'll drop all that money," he warned. She pouted,

"Aww, Ichi-nii!" she whined. I laughed at her antics, but suddenly panicked when I saw Isshin whirling towards me,

"Goooooooooood mooorrrnniiiinnnngggg Kisshiiikooooo!" he yelled. I quickly steped aside before he could attack me as he landed head first in the fridge I'd been cleaning out.

"...The hell?!" I yelled. Ichigo shook his head,

"It's okay, he does it to me all the time. That's just...him, I suppose." I looked over at him as he slowly raised his thumb,

"Good job, Kishiko. It seems you're just as good as my boy here," I relaxed slightly before he jumped out the fridge and into my face,

"BUT! Keep your guard up, because you never know when I'm going to pounce! Like BOO!" he shouted the last word in my face and I stumbled backwards, slightly freaked out by his antics. I leaned forward to Ichigo slightly,

"D...does he always do that?" I asked, slightly worried. He nodded,

"Yeah, he'd been behaving the last few days, but now it seems that now you technically live here, there's nothing to hide," I smiled and remembered yesterday,

"Yeah..."

~*~*~(Yesterday, After School)~*~*~

"Ahh, it felt so good to give those keys back! And now that we've offically sorted it out, I'm legally permitted to stay!" I sighed happily and stretched out, walking along the pavement with Ichigo. We'd had quite an interesting day. We'd walked into the classroom to find our usual group of friends. We'd kept our secret fairly quiet until lunch. After telling them that we were offically...well... a 'thing', we'd been given quite a mixed reaction. Uryuu had almost choked on his sandwich, Orihime had clapped her hands joyfully, and Chad had just stared on at us, in shock. It was quite amusing, to be honest. We'd managed to keep it secret from the rest of the school for the day, but no doubt it would slip out over the weekend. So, now, we were walking home, after we'd gone by the Housing Agents and dropped the keys off, while Isshin had sorted everything out earlier. He said he sort out bedroom arragement for me, though I had no idea how. As we reached home, I sighed happily. I savoured every moment I arrived home, now. It felt nice having someone to go home with, having someone to go home to, and all. As we stepped inside the clinic, we made our usual presence, but as we looked around, we couldn't see anybody. Ichigo looked puzzled,

"Dad?" he shouted. A sudden bang came from upstairs and then Isshin's voice,

"Up here, m'boy!" we trawled up the stairs, and standing there in the middle of the hallway, was a ladder. We looked up to see Isshin staring at us from the hole in the ceiling,

"Come on up, I think you're going to like this." We looked at each other, shrugged, decided that the worst that could happen would be the floor collapsing, and crawled up the ladder. I gasped when I reached the top of the ladder, and almost fell off and onto Ichigo, but managed to keep my balance.

"What is it?" Ichigo spoke from underneath me. I pulled myself up and Ichigo followed suite, stopping mid-track and muttering 'Wow...'. As I looked round, I realised that it was my new bedroom. The walls were painted a bright shade of purple, with the one wall down the end painted white. The wooden floor had obviously been scrubbed, as it looked extremely clean. A big double bed was in the middle, with purple quilt covers and a white throw over the top. A desk and white desk chair lay in the corner, a white vase with purple flowers sitting on it. A white bedside table sat by the bed, with a purple lamp on it. In the center of the room, a huge white rug was sprawled across the the floor, which Yuzu was sitting on. She turned around and grinned when she saw us, and stood up and gave us both a hug. She beamed when she noticed my expression,

"So, what do you think, Kishiko-neechan?" I gawped as I looked around at my room,

"It's.... it's absoloutely gorgeous," I muttered in awe. Yuzu clapped,

"Yayy! It's nearly finished, so you can sleep in it tonight, we even made you a custom ladder!" She hopped over to the corner and brought a white ladder with purple flowers to me. I smiled,

"Wow, thanks, guys, this is great!"

~*~*~(End Flasback)~*~*~

I was knocked out my trance when Yuzu began leading me out to the front,

"C'mon, Kishiko-neechan! Get your shoes on!" I stopped in my tracks,

"Wait, Yuzu! I'm still in my pyjamas, and I have no other clothes or shoes. What do you suppose I wear?" Yuzu's eyes suddenly lit up, as if a bulb had just popped over her head. I cowarded away slightly,

"I'm not liking the look of this..."

~*~*~(Shopping)~*~*~

"I feel SO stupid!" I muttered to Ichigo as we walked down the path towards a shop that Yuzu was leading us to. Yuzu had gone upstairs, and after a few minutes, had come down with some of Ichigo's clothing. A white round-neck shirt and his favourite pair of green ripped pants were in her hands. So, after forcing me to put them on, I was walking round in a shirt that was way too big for me, pants that, luckily, managed to fit me around the waist, and my school shoes. I was getting quite alot of stares, but I was trying as hard as I could not to look back. Karin and Isshin had decided to stay at home, since Isshin had some paperwork to attend to, and Karin had a bad headache. We finally arrived at the shop, which Yuzu dragged me into. I almost felt like throwing up when I saw what was in the shop. The walls were lined with dress after dress after dress, in colours such as pink, white, yellow, and purple. Sure, I liked Yellow, White, and Purple, but the pinks freaked me out, and the dresses were even worse. Don't get me wrong, the dresses were a nice style, but I _hate _wearing dresses. I was beginning to appreciate the fact that I was wearing Ichigo's clothes. Luckily, when Yuzu brought a dress down from the bottom rack, Ichigo took it off of her and put it back,

"Yuzu, I don't think this is really Kishiko's...style." I could tell he was feeling just as uncomfortable as I was in here. Yuzu pouted as she mumbled 'Fine' and we left the shop. After walking around for a while, I found my favourite shop.

"Hey, mind if we go in here? I used to go in here to get most of my clothing," they both nodded and we went inside.

~*~*~(A while later)~*~*~

We walked out the shop, completely satisfied. We'd bought a significant number of outfits and accessories, and Ichigo had found and bought a few things that had caught his eye. I'd been allowed to change into one of the outfits before I'd bought them, probably because the shop clerk's felt sorry for me since I was wearing boy clothes. So now, I'd gone from baggy clothing to a pair of dark denim skinny jeans, a long purple vest with a black waisted belt, high tops, and numerous necklaces and bangles, along with a purple belt that wasn't visible underneath my shirt. It felt great to be in normal clothing again, after living in my pyjamas and school uniform for a week. We then went into a shop and bought some underwear since I'd been wearing the same pair. Ichigo had decided to wait outside, blushing as he'd originally decided to come in with us, but as soon as taking a quick scan around, went back out. I'd given him a quick peck on the cheek before walking in with Yuzu. A few minutes later, after buying what we'd needed, we came out the door, laughing and laughing. Ichigo looked worried,

"What's wrong?!" he asked worredly. I struggled to get my words out,

"Man...dressing room...trying...bra! Curtain...not...closed!" we almost collapsed with laughter, and Ichigo just raised an eyebrow.

"You guys are such kids. I'm sure it was nothing." Somehow, he braved to go into the shop and took a quick looked, before running out again, and started bursting out laughing,

"Oh my God! Did you even LOOK properly?! Take another look, Kishiko! Man, I am NEVER gonna let him live THIS down!" I looked at him before making my way back into the shop, and peeking at him. I gasped and struggled to contain my laughter as I slowly walked back out, noticing the clerk was staring at us, but all the same, I didn't care. As soon as I stepped outside, I shrieked with laughter,

"OH MY GOD! THAT WAS RENJI!" Though Yuzu had stopped laughing, me and Ichigo continued. Yuzu cocked her head to the side,

"Who's Renji?" she asked. I placed my hand on her shoulder,

"A friend who doesn't really understand things. He has something a bit wrong with him." Yuzu pondered,

"What's that, then?" I stifled a laugh before I screamed,

"HE'S GENDER CONFUSED!" Me and Ichigo collapsed against each other, not being able to stop laughing. People in the street kept stopping to stare at us, but frankly, we didn't give a flying monkeys. When we'd finally calmed down, we saw Renji coming out, holding a bag with the bra inside. When he saw us, he smiled,

"Hey guys, what's up?" me and Ichigo looked at each other, and burst out laughing again, Renji totally defeating our ability to stay calm. After a minute I wiped the tears from my eyes and reached into my bag,

"Renji, do you know what one of these are?" I pulled out the white-laced bra I'd just bought. Renji smiled at me,

"Oh, so you bought some Battle Ready Armour, too?" my expression went from pure humor to pure confusion,

"Ehh~?" Ichigo, Yuzu, and I said in unison. Renji nodded,

"Yeah, Urahara said it would help in battle!" I shook my head and leaned into Renji's ear,

"Renji, it's really...." I began to whisper the rest to him. After I'd finished, his face went bright red,

"Wha...WHAT?! ARE YOU TELLING ME THESE ARE ACTUALLY CALLED BRAS AND THEY-" I clapsed my hand over his mouth and tutted,

"Renji, it's not something you should say out loud." I took the bag off him and looked inside,

"Wow, my size. Thanks, Renji! See you later!" We began to walk away, and Renji suddenly realized what I'd done,

"H-hey! I was gonna take that back!" he called to me.

"Think of it as charity!" I called back, without turning round.

"I thought you didn't take charity!"

"Well, maybe I changed my mind!!" he yelled something else back, but I was too lazy to listen and even lazier to respond. We stopped off for a drink in the cafe before heading home.

~*~*~

I lay in bed, not being able to sleep. I didn't know why, I guess I just wasn't tired. I looked at the clock. 11:21pm. I sighed and climbed out,

"I guess I could go see if Ichigo's still awake..." I silently climbed down the ladder and tiptoed into his room, to see he was still in his clothes and on the phone. He looked up in panic when he heard me close the door, but relaxed again when he realised who it was. I sat on his bed next to him and waited for him to finish the conversation, which didn't take long.

"Yeah... okay, Urahara. Yeah, yeah. 'Kay, we'll be down tomorrow afternoon." he hung up and placed the phone down, looking at me,

"Urahara?" I asked. He nodded,

"Yeah, he said he has the results of that test. He wants us to go down tomorrow," he replied. I nodded as I rested my head on his shoulder, and he linked his fingers with mine.

"So, why aren't you asleep?" he asked.

"'Cause, I couldn't."

"Yeah, me neither."

"I bet you haven't even tried."

"Oh yeah? What's your proof?"

"You're still in your clothes," he looked down and gave up,

"Okay, you caught me. A hollow was in town so I decided to go kill it."

"Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?" I laughed. Before I knew it, he'd fallen asleep, his head on mine. Too comfortable to move, I soon found myself drifting off, too.

_"Kishiko-neechan~? Kishiko-neechaaaaan~?! Ichigo, have you see-" _she opened the door to see Ichigo and I talking on the bed. Yuzu came forward slightly,

"Kishi-nee-"

"No talkie. Bubblegum competition." Since we'd both woken up early, and were bored, we'd decided to have a bubblegum competition to see who could blow the biggest bubble. Since that had started about 3 hours ago, I was on my 32nd gum, whereas Ichigo was only on his 8th, numerous amounts of wrappers littered the bed and floor. It was a good job they had that sale on at that random store we'd visited on our little shopping trip. We both chewed for a good minute before Ichigo counted in,

"3...2...1...blow!" At that moment, we both blew our gum. Ichigo's gum popped after a few seconds, but mine went on for much longer before popping all over my face. I smirked,

"Ha, you lose, again! Stick it to 'em!" You pulled the rest of the gum into your mouth before taking it out, handing it to Ichigo. He sighed and took out his own, holding it while he popped yours into his mouth. He chewed for 10 seconds before taking it back out, throwing it into the bin. I smirked as he placed his back into his mouth, and began to unwrap another gum.

"This isn't fair, my gum's all worn out, and because I lose, you get new ones."

"Stop whining and get a new one then. I bet you I still win, though."

"Tch, don't bet on it!" he took the gum out of his mouth and threw it into the bin, adding to the huge pile collecting inside it. If we'd continued like this, we'd have probably formed the worlds biggest gum ball. We both chewed for a while before a smirk spread across my face,

"3...2...1...blow!" we began to start blowing our bubbles once again, and smirked in victory as Ichigo's popped before mine. I placed my finger inside my growing bubble, bursting it. I continued to smirk as I took my gum out handing it to Ichigo. I began timing and I turned round to Yuzu,

"Hi, Yuzu-chan, what's up?" I asked. She smiled awkwardly before beginning,

"Oh, we were just worried since you weren't in your bedroom. What would you be liking for breakfast today?" I simply shook my head,

"It's okay, Yuzu-chan. I'm planning on visiting a friend with Ichigo." Yuzu looked round to see Ichigo putting both pieces of gum in the bin. He looked up to his younger sister and nodded,

"Yeah, we may be there for most of the afternoon," he said. Yuzu nodded before leaving. I stretched out before rolling over, forgetting I was in a single bed and falling off. Ichigo snickered as I glared at him, standing up. I began walking out of the room,

"I'm gonna go get changed to go to Urahara's. You can clean that up," he scoffed as I opened the door,

"Not bloody likely. You can help me sort out this crap," he muttered, but all the same he began to pick up the wrappers. I climbed up to my bedroom and made my way over to my wardrobe, which luckily, now contained more than uniform. I browsed through before I decided on a grey 'I 3 U' shirt, a pair of shorts, a black and white striped cardigan, and a pair of grey armwarmers. I smiled, pleased with my look, and fixed up my hair, applying a coat of lipgloss before I had a quick tidy round, climbing back down to brush my teeth. As I came out I noticed Ichigo, all dressed and ready. He sported his favourite (and mine) green ripped pants, with a grey polo shirt with a red '15' on the back. I smiled as I pecked him on the cheek, linking arms with him,

"Ready to go?" I asked cheerfully.

~*~*~

The street was fairly quiet. Many of the shops were closed, but hey, it was a Sunday. Ichigo had found out about my 'unusual' obsession for video games after I'd dragged him in to what seemed to be the only shop open.

"Oh my God! They released the new _Kingdom Hearts_? And lookie! _Final Fanasty!! _AND OH MY FREAKING GOD, THEY HAVE FREAKIN' _SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!!_" I'd pranced around the shop, singing the Sonic theme tune, before I was forced to refocus on what we were doing, and left, well, was pryed away from the store, leaving a very confused and annoyed shop clerk to stare at us. I pouted comically as we walked down the road, disappointed. Ichigo couldn't help but smile at me, which caused my rare, cheesy grin to come out. We were walking when Ichigo slowly came to a stop, looking at me worridly. I looked at him, matching his expression,

"What's wrong?" I asked, puzzled. He shook his head,

"N-nothing. Just thinking about things." His feet pivoted and he carried on walking, as I hurridly followed after him towards the Shoten.

~*~*~

"Ahh, Kishiko-chan! Ichigo-kun! Welcome!" Urahara spoke in a seemingly delighted tone, but I picked up on the nervousness in his voice instantly. Leaving it, I bowed as I entered the Shoten shortly after Ichigo, taking off my shoes, and following Ichigo through to the room where I'd been previously, when I'd been lured.

"I'll be back in a minute, just make yourselves at home," Urahara flipped open his fan, waving it in front of his face before disappearing. We sat down on one side of the table, waiting, not saying a word. After several minutes Urahara came back in with several papers in his right hand, his expression clearly expressing negativity. He sat down oppsite us, shuffling the papers on the table, not making eye contact with us.

"I have the results of the test," Urahara spoke, almost sadly. I crossed my fingers under the table,

"And...?"

"They're not good..." my fingers instantly uncrossed, and Ichigo placed a hand on top of mine. Urahara looked up at us,

"I'm sorry, but as we speak a hollow is dwelling inside of you." Ichigo's hand tightened around mine. I sighed,

"Isn't there anything we can do to stop it?" I asked. Urahara opened his mouth to speak but Ichigo butted in,

"Once the symptons appear, you can't go back... someone... told me that once." I looked at him, and then back to Urahara, who nodded,

"He's right. I'm sorry, Kishiko. The best you can do is learn to control it." I nodded,

"Okay. I can't upset myself over things that can't be fixed. Like you said, the best I can do now is learn to control it." I forced out a smile and stood up,

"Thank you Urahara, I'm sure Ichigo will help me, since he's experienced this before." Ichigo stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder, looking at me,

"Of course, I'll help you. Don't worry about it." he gave my shoulder a soft squeeze, before we turned around. As we were about to walk out the door, Urahara tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around,

"By the way, if you suddenly start to experience...negative events, come and see me straight away." I cocked my head, puzzled,

"Like what?" I asked. Urahara sifted through the pile of paper and picked a sheet out, handing it to me,

"Read through it. If any of those happen, come see me." I folded the piece of paper and put it in my jeans pocket, bowing before leaving with Ichigo. After we got out onto the main street, Ichigo spoke up,

"Aren't you gonna look at that list?" he questioned, I shook my head,

"No, I don't wanna get paranoid about anything on there, 'cause if I do, it's bound to happen from my own silliness."

"Ahh, I can understand that." After that, we didn't really talk.

Was hell starting now?

It was almost as if I could feel a hellfire raging inside me, and I could feel myself trembling.

It was slight, but I was still trembling.

It was then I knew.

Hell had indeed, begun.

--

Well, I hoped you guys liked it : D

Sorry about the long delay, school and exams have been taking over my life, and writers block has been hurting my head like hell (:

I didn't really know how to end this, to be honest XD

Also, I'd like to thank everyone who's faved this story/me/set to have alerts for new chapters. Within 24 hours I'd had quite a lot of e-mails about people who had done this, and I was quite shocked since this was originally posted on _Lunaescence,_ and in around 5-6 months, it had 12 views, no comments, no faves, or anything, so I was quite happy to find that it was much more popular on here (:

Stay tuned for the next chapter! 3

_**In the next chapter...**_

I picked up the list out of my jeans on the floor, reading through the list,

"Here it is, number 7, recurring nightmares." Ichigo looked over my shoulder as we read the small neat print on the paper. I sighed, folding it back up,

"Looks like another trip to Urahara, huh?"


	12. Nightmares

Now I have a week's holiday, it's an excuse to get a few more chapters in. I have to admit though, this is just kinda going along with the flow. I know what's happening at the end, it's just filling the bit in between. XD I could carry this story on forever, but I plan on making it 30 chapters, tops. It sounds like a lot... actually o_O I don't know, it depends, I don't want to rush the story. XD What do you guys think? A lot less than 30 chapters? Hmmm....maybe I should lengthen the chapters... o; I'm rambling, huh? Well, I better stop now! Enjoy this chapter :]

--

**Chapter 11 - Nightmares**

_**In the previous chapter...**_

_It was almost as if I could feel a hellfire raging inside me, and I could feel myself trembling._

_It was slight, but I was still trembling._

_It was then I knew._

_Hell had indeed, begun._

_--_

_Screams elicted from my lips as I wrangled on the cold stone floor. Laughs that were not mine, yet were my voice, came out at the same time as my screams._

_"Looks like your time's run out, Kishiko!" a voice inside me cackled, and more screams came from me. Pain rippled through my body like I was being shot and stabbed and beaten to death by a gang of thugs. Except nobody was there, it was just me. Suddenly, another pain from my heart shot right through me, and then my body-_

I woke up, still screaming, sweat trickling down my body, merging my skin to my clothing. Someone was holding me, but I couldn't figure out who at this point. My screams mingled with pants as more sweat built up on my skin. When I came to and my screams were disintegrating, I looked up and saw the bright orange hair of Ichigo. As my screams became sobs, I became aware of him rocking me gently, shushing me. After several minutes I'd completely calmed down, and Ichigo gently pushed me backwards, holding onto my shoulders, so he could look at me,

"Are you okay? That's the 16th time in 2 weeks you've been screaming and kicking about in your bed, and I'm guessing this makes it the 16th time you've had... the dream?" he asked, pulling me back to his chest. I was still unable to speak, so I simply nodded against his chest. He sighed,

"It's a good job I decided to sleep next to you. When you first had this nightmare, the amount of time it took me to reach you up here, I thought you were gonna die or something!" I managed to get out a chuckle and clung onto him tighter,

"It...f-felt...like I w....as gonna d-die," I struggled through my words as Ichigo continued to rock me, slowly lowering me down to the bed. As he began to unwrap his arms, I quickly clung onto them, locking his arms in a death grip,

"Noo~, stay with me, please," I mumbled pleadingly, dragging him closer. He pressed his head against the nape of my neck and I felt him smirk,

"Okay, put promise me you'll look at that list tomorrow?" I nodded, too tired to speak,

"Hmm."

~*~*~

I woke up to a warm but pleasant feeling, and a warm body behind me, its arm draped over me. I turned round, smiling as I remembered I'd asked Ichigo to sleep beside me. I turned round to face him, and the stir must have alerted him, as his eyes snapped open. Realising the disturbance was only me, he smiled,

"You okay now?" he asked. I nodded,

"Yeah, I'm alot better now, I think all the crying helped me sleep easier," I laughed, trying to shake the nightmare off. Ichigo placed his hand in mine,

"That's good. Oh!" He tilted his body and pointed towards my pair of jeans that had been lying on the floor since we'd returned from Urahara's two weeks ago, "You promised me you'd look at the list to day to see if 'recurring nightmares' was on there." I nodded and sat up in bed, stretching out before climbing out of bed, Ichigo getting out behind me. I picked up the list out of my jeans on the floor, reading through the list,

"Here it is, number 7, recurring nightmares." Ichigo looked over my shoulder as we read the small neat print on the paper. I sighed, folding it back up,

"Looks like another trip to Urahara, huh?" Ichigo nodded,

"Yeah. Before we get ready and go, don't you think you might as well look at the rest of the things on the list?" he asked. I sighed and began to unfold it again,

"I guess I should, huh?" the paper eventually folded out and my eyes scanned down the list.

_**Negative Events Linked To Hollowfication**_

_1. Sudden loss of conciousness_

_2. Strange behaviour_

_3. Random panic attacks_

_4. Sleepwalking_

_5. Negative mood swings_

_5. Suicidal thoughts_

_6. Body Posession whilst sleeping_

_7. Recurring Nightmares_

_8. No awareness of surroundings_

_9. Snapping in and out of thoughts_

_10. Change in voice_

I cocked my head to the side,

"_Body posession whilst sleeping?_ What the hell's up with that? How are we supposed to know if my body's been posessed whilst I'm sleeping, eh?" Ichigo shrugged,

"Beats me, maybe you'll go beserk and try to kill me?" his tone was comic, but my forceful elbow made quick contact with his ribs. I turned round to face him,

"Don't say things like that! What if my hollow actually takes over me in my sleep and does kill you, huh?" Ichigo raised his hands in defence,

"Sorry, sorry. It was bad." He wrapped his arms around me in a hug, and I quickly melted. After a few seconds, I slipped out his grip and flung open my wardrobe,

"I suppose we should get changed and head over to the Shoten, then," I said, sifting through various clothing until I found something I wanted to wear. I quickly shoo-ed Ichigo out my room and got dressed, and headed downstairs to put my shoes on.

~*~*~

Ichigo slid open the door,

"Urahara, we're here!" he called out into the hallway. While we took our shoes off, Renji poked his head through one of the doors,

"Hey, Ichigo, Kishiko! Long time no see!" he grinned at us and stepped out the room, the ridiculous attire he was wearing the previous time we saw him no longer present. I smiled,

"Yeah, we came by a couple of weeks ago, but you weren't here." I said, looking around for any signs of Urahara.

"Yeah, I was out running a couple of errands. I came back and I'd only missed you by a couple of minutes." I simply "hmm"ed in response, still looking for Urahara. Renji tapped me on the shoulder,

"You looking for Urahara? He's through there." He pointed to the far room on the left. We said our thanks and made our way. I slid open the door, to find Urahara sitting at the low table in the center of the room, a hot cup of tea in his hand. He looked up when he heard the disturbance, and smiled,

"Welcome, you two. You seem to be making quite a few trips here lately!" He stood up, walking over to the cupboard behind him and taking out two more cups, bringing them over to the table and filling them with tea. Ichigo and I sat down as Urahara pushed the tea towards us,

"Yes, because we so enjoy taking regular visits here about my disease, it's just like a fun hospital!" I said sarcastically as I took a sip from the tea. Urahara sighed,

"Anyway, you're here because...?"

"Because something....on the list has been happening lately." I hated talking about this, but it was better to get it out in the open. Urahara nodded his head,

"I see, and I'm guessing these nightmares have been occuring quite regularly?" he asked. I nodded,

"Yeah, they're really starting to- hey! Wait a sec! I didn't even tell you what was going on... how did you know?" Urahara took a sip from his tea,

"I knew when you came here last time that it would be the first signs. It tends to be the most common starting point." Ichigo rolled his eyes,

"Of course, Urahara's a smartass." Ichigo mumbled under his breath. I snickered slightly before Urahara cleared his throat.

"Ichigo-kun, is it possible to speak to you in private?" I turned to look at Ichigo, who in turn looked at me. I smiled and stood up,

"You two talk. I'll go find Renji and bug him for a while." I walked out the room and down the corridors peeking in each of the rooms to see if I could find Renji.

"Hey, Kishiko-san!" I spun round to find Renji's head poking through the opposite door. I smiled,

"Hey, I was looking for you." I smiled and walked towards him,

"Cool, 'cause I wanted to talk to you about something." I raised an eyebrow,

"About what?" He gestured to the table in the middle of the room and I sat down on one of the pillows, and he sat next to me.

The next 3 minutes... were something I never expected to happen... **ever.**

**--**

A VERY short chapter, but I wanted to leave this on a cliffhanger, because I felt it wouldn't be as good if I carried it on (:

There's no chapter preview for this one, since I can't think of anything interesting to put up without spoiling it x3

Oh well, domo arigatou to everyone who's been reading so far, new and regular alike. :3


	13. A Quick Announcement

**ANNOUNCEMENT:**

_After a two-and-a-half year break, The Life And Times of Kishiko Ishikawa_

_is finally back! I'll be releasing a new chapter later tonight (10th March 2013)._

_I'm very much looking forward to it, I hope you are too!_

_-Kishiko_


	14. Confessions Part Deux

Hello guys, this is the official return of Life And Times Of Kishiko Ishikawa! Boy, when I said in the last chapter I wanted to leave it on a cliffhanger I really did, didn't I? A two-and-a-half year cliffhanger! Well, at the time of my last chapter I was only 14 years old and now I'm 17! So let's hope my writing style's matured, eh? Anyway, please give a warm welcome to the return of LATOKI (this is my new short version for what is a very long series title)

**Chapter 12 - Confessions Part Deux.**

_**In the previous chapter…**_

_"Hey, Kishiko-san!" I spun round to find Renji's head poking through the opposite door. I smiled,_

_"Hey, I was looking for you." I smiled and walked towards him,_

_"Cool, 'cause I wanted to talk to you about something." I raised an eyebrow,_

_"About what?" He gestured to the table in the middle of the room and I sat down on one of the pillows, and he sat next to me._

_The next 3 minutes... were something I never expected to happen... __**ever.**_

I turned round and smiled gently at Renji, who returned a much more nervous-looking, very forced, cheesy grin as he slowly and carefully closed the door behind him. I was suspicious, but non-the-less, I turned back and buried my hands in my lap as Renji sat down on the pillow next to the one I was sat on. I looked around,

"So…" I laughed awkwardly. Usually, things with Renji were all fun and messing about, but this time, something in the air felt uneasy. I went to make eye contact with him, but the moment my eyes met his he swiftly turned his head and decided his shoulder was much more entertaining to observe. I got sick of the silence almost instantly, and slapped my hand onto his shoulder he was so intently staring at, and the shock of the sudden movement knocked his head in my direction, like he'd been slapped in the face instead,

"What do you want to talk to me about, Renji? Why the whole awkwardness and finding your shoulder oh-so-intersting? Renji… Renji, you were the one who wanted to talk to me, so why the hell aren't you saying a word? For fuck's sake, REN-" the last syllable of his name was replaced with muffled murmurs of surprise when Renji grasped my upper arms and threw his body into mine, forcing our lips to connect.

The force of him throwing me forwards pushed pushed Renji backwards and I heard his back slam against the cool wood of the floor. My attempts to pull away were swiftly punished as Renji moved his hands from tightly gripping my arms to pushing on the back of my head, taking my lips even closer to his. I had to admit, he was good at kissing… very passionately. But after a lot of screaming into his mouth and writhing about, I managed to break free from his confines, and gave him a hard slap across the face. I stood up in anger and shock, and watched Renji slowly sit up straight, nursing his quickly reddening cheek. My own cheeks were brushed with red, in anger and embarrassment,

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT, RENJI?!" I screamed. I didn't care if Urahara or Ichigo could hear. I was pissed. Seriously pissed. Renji stood up,

"I…I'm sorry Kishiko… I didn't know which way to say it… so… I just thought I'd act…"

"Say WHAT?!"

"THAT I LOVE YOU!" That stopped my rant right there. Was he serious? Had he said this just to shut me up? I stared at him in shock,

"You….lo…." I couldn't even say it. Just thinking about it had turned my mouth dry and my palms sweaty. Saying it would just…just kill me. He nodded,

"Y…yeah… I do. But I've been trying to hide it, so I've tried to push you closer to Ichigo." I rubbed my temples, trying to make sense of it all. This was all too much to happen to me. Especially after the events that had occurred over the past few days. Before either of us could say any more, Ichigo opened the door, looking slightly panicked,

"Kishiko…are you ok? I heard yelling…" he looked over at Renji, and he clearly noted the huge red hand print that had appeared on his right cheek. Renji looked down, too embarrassed to admit to Ichigo what had happened. I put on a fake smile and walked up to him,

"Of course I'm ok, we were just play fighting and it got a lil' out of hand, Renji was a little too rough with me so I slapped him in self-defence. Isn't that right, Renji?" The sound of his name made his head snap up to face us, puzzled, then quickly changed his expression once he realised I was saving his ass,

"Oh yeah, I hit her a little too hard by accident so she slapped me quite hard across the face. It was just a bit of harmless fun." I nodded up to Ichigo,

"Yup! Now c'mon, you all finished talking?" Ichigo looked away from me and stared at the floor,

"Y…yeah, we are…" the look on his face told me something had gone down that had disturbed or upset him, but I knew he wouldn't tell me, so I didn't bother asking. I gave him a big grin and gripped his hand tight in mine and turned to look back at Renji, who was still gently touching his cheek and wincing. Despite his actions, my anger was beginning to wash away and instead was being replaced with waves of guilt. I quickly mouthed _'I'm sorry'_ before Ichigo began to leave the room, pulling me along with him.

_That kiss… it was so… so passionate. Did he really mean all those things he said? _I could feel my face flush a bright hue of red and I replayed what had just occurred in my head. However, my train of thought was abruptly stopped when Ichigo sharply pulled me into an empty room. He looked at me, face stern and serious,

"Kishiko, I don't want you to leave my sight, you hear me?" His voice was… different. Something had obviously happened in that room with Urahara which had put him off-track. I nodded meekly, still feeling numb and my head still reeling from everything that had happened.

"O….ok, I won't." My voice was small and soft, despite trying my hardest to appear normal. Ichigo's face softened, though it still appeared tight under the surface. He pulled me in and hugged me tight,

"Good. I love you Kishiko." I looked up to him and smiled gently,

"I love you too, Ichigo," I hugged him tighter and buried my head in his chest.

_Yes…this is the way it's supposed to be. I love Ichigo, not Renji. This is how things should be….._

_I can't stop thinking about Renji._


End file.
